Petunias
by Ravenclaweruditeowl
Summary: Emma Taylor had never believed magic, but when a closer investigation into her friend Daisy Dursley's new school only brings up more an more questions, Emma may have to reevaluate her beliefs. Sequel to "Daisies." Full summary inside. Chapters 2/14 posted
1. Chapter 1

**If you are new to my "Daisies" universe, I suggest you read that book first. If I ever get to the other books in this series, some of those will be able to stand alone, but this one has a fair amount of OCs and references to what happened in Daisies.**

Expanded Story Summary:

Emma Taylor had never believed magic, but when a closer investigation into her friend Daisy Dursley's new school only brings up more an more questions, Emma may have to reevaluate her beliefs.

Daisy Dursley, painfully oblivious to her friendship with Emma being torn apart is now too focused on the destruction of another friendship. Sam Edgecombe's arrival at Hogwarts might mean that Daisy looses Jonathan's close friendship.

Poppy Dursley grows closer to her sister now that they have magic in common. But when Daisy goes back to school, who can Poppy truly relate to? What will it take for her mother to finally accept her?

Although their paths divide, all three find out that first impressions are only a sliver of the whole truth, and the secrets underneath can go farther than one would ever expect.

* * *

Emma Taylor considered herself to be many things. She wasn't a competitive athlete or artistically talented, but she was a logical thinker and a good planner. When things didn't add up, Emma noticed it. And something about Daisy's story didn't add up.

The most noticeable oddity in her school's explanation was the fact that Daisy didn't seem to have many new songs to play or sing. Emma might have ignored this point, except that she had always been Daisy's practice audience in the past. No matter what questions Emma asked, Daisy never brought out any of her music books when Emma went over to visit. Emma had even looked for them and only ever found the same books Daisy had played from before going to St. Cecilia's School of Music.

When she had brought the topic up with her older sister, Heidi had only shrugged.

"I'm not friends with any of the people I hung out with when I was your age. It might just be time to move on."

"No," Emma had protested. "It can't be."

"Why should it be different for you and Daisy than it is for nearly everyone else?"

Emma had struggled to think of any real reasons that she and Daisy wouldn't suffer the unimaginable friendship split. In the end, her biggest reason had been her own determination to keep their friendship alive. She would be whatever their friendship needed her to be - a shoulder to lean on, a person to talk to, or, at the moment, a detective.

After all, how could two people stay friends when a secret cut through the ropes that had taken years to tie between them?

Emma figured that asking other people would be her best bet. She guessed that asking Daisy's parents would be too direct and might alert Daisy to Emma's investigation. No one from their old school besides Emma had kept in contact with Daisy once she had left, so none of them would be helpful. This meant that Emma was stuck with only a few options: question Daisy's sister Poppy, or one of her cousins.

Poppy would be the ideal one to talk to. Emma knew Poppy better and hoped she would be willing to share. The thought of talking to Daisy's cousins made Emma's hands curl into defensive fists and sharp words come to the forefront of her mind.

Either way, she would need to get herself over to Daisy's house first.

That week's mild temperatures made for pleasant walks the short distance to Daisy's house. Emma didn't know what she hoped for more: that Daisy would be home, or that she wouldn't. If she was home, Emma would get to spend time with her, all the while wondering about Daisy's secret and getting no answers. If Daisy wasn't home, but Poppy was, then maybe she could get some new information.

When Emma got closer to the Dursleys' house, she saw someone who was neither Daisy nor a family member. An extremely short man with a grey beard and odd purple suit stood at the door shaking hands with Daisy's father and saying something with a broad smile stretched across his face. She couldn't help thinking that he looked like he belonged in some fantasy world as a dwarf mining for gold. No — a dwarf that had mined for gold in his past, but had found a decent-sized collection, become rich, and spent his money on curiously coloured clothing.

As Emma watched, the man backed away from the door, waved, and headed off down the sidewalk. She would have continued to watch him walk, but she'd been spotted.

"Emma, dear, won't you come inside?" Daisy's mother stood in the doorway waiting.

Emma had always liked Anna. Some people would have found it strange to be such close friends with your best friend's mom, but Emma had always shared almost as much with Anna as she had with Daisy. It drove Poppy insane sometimes, Emma knew, but they had kept the practice of keeping secrets from the younger girl as a precaution from back when Poppy hadn't been able to keep secrets.

"I'm sorry to say that Daisy is just leaving," Anna said when Emma got to the door. "Unless you'd like to go boxing with her and Dudley? I seem to recall you enjoying yourself last time you went."

Emma tried to keep her horror from showing through her smile until she noticed the twinkle in Anna's eye that gave away her sarcasm.

Emma laughed for real this time.

"Not this time. But, if Poppy's around, maybe I'll just stay awhile if that's okay?"

"Come on in."

Emma entered the front door and directed herself towards Poppy's room. It was the first to the right at the top of the staircase, opposite to Daisy's which was the first to the left. The two girls shared the bathroom in between. Daisy's door stood closed, which would have been unusual before that summer, but Poppy's stood propped open slightly and Emma could see her bent over a piece of paper on her desk.

"Knock, knock," Emma said, pushing the door open further.

Poppy looked up, shoving the paper she'd been pouring over underneath a blank sheet.

More secrets.

Wiping her hands on her shorts, Poppy stood and turned.

"Hi."

"Hi," Emma responded. "Mind if I sit and chat for a bit?"

"No, no, of course not, I'll just," she looked around her room, suddenly seeming to notice the clothes thrown over the end of her bed and the markers strewn across the table, several of which had rolled their way onto the floor. She waved her arms for a second and then shrugged. "Nevermind. My room's a mess, but you've seen it worse."

Emma sat on the floor, and Poppy sat across from her.

"So, what've you been up to? I've been so focused on spending time with Daisy, I feel like I haven't really talked to you all summer."

"Not much. Just some summer reading and art."

"Nice."

Emma waited for Poppy to ask something, which just created an awkwardly long silence.

"Did you come to ask something in specific, because otherwise, I'd like to get back to what I was working on."

In only looking at Daisy, Emma had failed to see how much Poppy had changed as well. Where was the little girl who would talk until she fell asleep, and forget that things were meant to be kept a secret? Sure, Poppy was 10 now, not 7, but somehow, Emma had thought she would retain some of her chatterbox quality.

"I can't just want to talk to an old friend?"

Poppy tilted her head and waited. Emma recalled all the time in the past when Emma had come into Poppy's room. Usually, it was because she and Daisy wanted something they had left in there or because they needed another player in some game they had invented. This time there was no game, and Poppy could clearly see that and conclude that Emma wanted something.

Emma sighed. "Fine. I just wanted to know about Daisy."

"What about her?"

"What's the true story behind this school she goes to? Why won't she talk to me about it? I know she doesn't have any new music books, and I haven't heard her play anything new. She always keeps her door shut, and she spends a lot of time at your cousin's place."

Poppy nodded in agreement. "I noticed that too. I wish I could tell you what was going on."

"But you're not allowed to."

"I can't tell you what I don't know."

"I'm supposed to believe that you don't know any more than I do?"

Poppy shrugged. "I suppose you could believe I'm lying to you, but I thought I'd give you another option."

Emma didn't know how to respond to that. Poppy's words were vague, but she said them in a way that reminded Emma of the cryptic but wise character one might come across in a movie. She had confirmed one thing: there was a secret being kept from her. But Emma had already pieced that together on her own. Poppy knew the secret, too, but she thought that Emma should stay out of it. Or did Poppy's willingness to admit the secret existed mean that Poppy didn't agree with keeping it from her?

Did ten-year-olds think this deeply about what they said, or was Emma overthinking?

She had to be overthinking.

Poppy flipped her hair and folded her arms across her chest. "Weren't you going to leave?"

"Right." Emma cleared her throat and walked out. "I'm sorry I haven't talked to you lately," she called back sincerely. "If you ever want to talk, or do… something, I'm still here."

"Mhmm." Poppy had already returned to her desk.

Emma sighed. Maybe she had been wrong. Perhaps talking to Daisy's cousins would be her best option.

* * *

**My current outline has this story at only about 14 chapters (less than half of the length of the previous) so hopefully I'll be able to finish more quickly. Petunias also has more of a focus on friendship/jealousy than Daisies, which at the end had more of a mystery to it. I hope some of you will enjoy it anyway and leave a review!**

**As for other books in my Daisies universe, I'm thinking about skipping ahead to later years at Hogwarts after this fic, because I don't find writing about twelve-year-olds that interesting anymore, honestly. I have ideas for a Scorose fic, one that focuses on Lily, on an older Poppy, on an after war Dudley/Anna. So if this story doesn't hold your interest, maybe one of those would. **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2. Wand of Cherry

"Did you talk to Emma?" Dudley Dursley asked. "I think she really wanted to talk to you."

Daisy shook her head. "Not yet. I saw her two days ago, though. I haven't seen Sophia or Jonathan all summer!" She looked around Diagon Alley with eager impatience. Every kid going back-to-school shopping was potentially one of her friends, but none of the faces she saw were the right ones.

"Well, we should start getting your things together soon, whether or not your friends show up. I see Harry's lot coming up the road there, you'll still have someone your age to talk to," Dudley said, recounting the coins he had just retrieved in exchange for muggle money.

Daisy looked in the direction he had pointed. Lily waved at her from between her parents but didn't try to get any closer.

Harry and Ginny were mid-conversation with Scorpius' parents and the father of one of James' friends. After a moment, they seemed to come to some agreement, and Albus was allowed to leave with the Malfoy family. Harry took James and his friend, and Lily and Ginny came over to Join the Dursleys.

"Ready for your second year, Daisy?" Ginny asked.

"Of course!" Daisy grinned. Her response to her second year at Hogwarts was so much different than how she had reacted at the beginning of her first.

"Then let's go!" Ginny made sure they were all following, and then led the way to Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

Both Lily and Daisy had grown a good amount since the previous year's shopping, and they weren't the only ones. Madame Malkin's was packed with more students than usual. Many were first years, but more were returning students that needed a new set of robes. Two of them were students that Daisy and Lily had been looking for.

"We wondered when you two'd show up," Gracie Ellis said. She held her arms aloft as one of the shopkeepers pinned her robe into place.

Sophia sat on a bench next to Gracie, a parcel holding her new robe in her lap. "We've been here for at least an hour already." She turned to the others in the group. "Hello Mrs Potter, Mr and Mrs Dursley. And Daisy's adorable little sister, I love your hair and outfit by the way, are you starting at Hogwarts this year?

Poppy looked slightly startled by Sophia's comment. She flipped her braid forward proudly. "No, not this year, but next year hopefully."

Sophia nodded. "Awesome."

It took half an hour for Gracie, Lily, and Daisy all to be fitted for robes, but it wasn't at all boring. Gracie told them all about her trip to France that summer, pausing and laughing whenever Sophia interrupted with any comments.

"Neither of you have seen Jonathan though?" Daisy asked as they left the shop.

Sophia shook her head. "Did he say for sure he'd make it today?"

"No, but I was hopeful."

"Maybe he just hadn't been in to get new robes yet, or went to Twilfitt and Tattings instead."

"Not to interrupt your important conversation," Ginny said, "but what store were you heading to next?"

The four girls stopped and turned around. Without much thought, they had walked off down the alley leaving Dudley, Poppy, and Ginny to follow behind as they walked aimlessly down the brick walkway.

"Oops," Sophia trilled. "My bad. Books next? We're near Flourish and Blotts anyway."

"How bout Olivander's?" Daisy suggested. "Poppy really wanted to go there. You know, to figure out her wand situation."

Poppy stepped forwards to be more included, her eyes glowing with excitement. The cherry tree twig, through which Poppy had done her first bit of magic, hadn't left her side all summer even though Harry had suggested keeping it stored someplace safe. Using it, Poppy had levitated a baby bird that had fallen from its nest and accidentally set fire to the Dursley's Sunday breakfast.

The others agreed on the destination. Daisy threw an arm over her sister's shoulder and guided her in the direction of Olivander's wand shop. The shop had gone through some changes since Daisy had gotten her own wand. It was better lit, and the counter looked to have been replaced. The old man, Mr Ollivander was nowhere to be seen, and instead stood a frazzled looking Sean Ollivander, Garrick's great nephew who had given Daisy her wand the previous year.

"Ah, another Dursley off to Hogwarts then?" Sean surveyed the group of them curiously. "I wasn't expecting another until next year."

Poppy stepped forwards. "How did you know I'd be coming at all?"

Sean's grin was not without a little mystery and mischief. "A wandmaker sees much. I had a feeling your sister wasn't the only Dursley who would pass through. Now, how may I help you?"

Daisy looked from the young wandmaker to Poppy and back again. It was clear that Poppy wasn't satisfied with that answer, but she didn't ask again. She took the twig out from her back pocket and placed it on the desk.

"I'm not starting at Hogwarts until next year, but could I have a wand made? I can't do magic without this stick, not even the usual accidental magic."

Sean picked the branch up, measuring it with his eyes. "Cherry, yes?" He didn't check for Poppy's confirmation. "A very nice specimen, very nice indeed. Seems to be of wand quality wood. Small, but large enough to be made into a good one. Maybe 10 and ½ inches, quite rigid... but what of the core…" For the first time, he seemed to notice that he was saying all this in front of a small crowd of people.

Daisy guessed that if the old Ollivander had done such a thing, he would have thought nothing of it, but Sean blushed and placed the soon-to-be wand back down on the desk. Daisy tried to guess how old he was. He didn't look all that much older than the 7th years at Hogwarts, but it had to have taken years to be able to run a prestigious wand shop. He was probably somewhere in his mid-twenties.

Sean nodded to Poppy. "I can make it, but it's illegal to provide a child under the age of 11 with a wand, so a magical adult relative will have to keep it for you."

"I understand." Poppy didn't blink.

Sean narrowed his eyes, a small smile appearing at the corners of his mouth. "I don't doubt you understand. I doubt you'll follow through." He held her gaze for a moment more. "Anyway, we still need to find out what core best matches you. There are three possibilities: phoenix feather, dragon heartstring, or unicorn hair. Of course, you could also try out thestral tail hair, dittany or veela hair, but those are quite risky." He opened up the gate allowing Poppy to pass through to the space behind the desk.

"Here." Sean held out three identical oblong boxes. "Don't open them. Just tell me if one feels special."

Poppy took the boxes and weighed them in her hands one by one. One box did look like it stood out more than the others, and Daisy and her friends leaned in closer as Poppy ran her finger down the crease on the side.

"I like this one," she said. "It feels… powerful."

Sean frowned and yanked the box back out of Poppy's hands. He pried the lid open and looked inside. "Dragon heartstring."

No one said a word.

"That sounds nice," Gracie said politely, breaking the silence.

"Hmm." Sean took Poppy's twig of cherry wood off of the counter, dropped it in the box with the dragon heartstring, and put them both in a drawer behind the counter. Poppy's eyes didn't leave the box until it could no longer be seen.

"Yes, very powerful. I could be - I could be making a mistake making this for you." His eyes looked off into the empty space behind them for an awkwardly long few seconds before coming back to them, his face returning to a cheery smile."That'll be ten galleons, since it's special order, and I'll need the mailing address of a magical relative."

Dudley approached the counter, cringing as he fished out ten gallons, mumbling "Daisy's was only seven."

"And the address?"

"Have it mailed to Ginny Potter," Ginny stepped in. "I'll keep it until she's old enough."

Sean wrote something down on a slip of parchment and gestured for them to move out of the way for the next customer.

"Jonathan?" The next three in line included the remaining member of Daisy's friend group. Jonathan hardly had time to acknowledge Daisy's presence before her arms were wrapped around him.

It wasn't that Daisy had been lonely all summer - far from it. She'd had her sister, her cousins, and Emma, of course. She'd also been sending letters to both Sophia and Jonathan weekly so that they wouldn't miss out on anything, but Jonathan's letters had always been the shortest. Daisy didn't know what that meant. Maybe Jonathan just wasn't a long letter writer, but she still got the feeling that something was wrong.

"So you are here," Sophia reported. "We thought you couldn't make it."

"I wasn't sure which day I'd be going," Jonathan said. "I promised Sam that I'd go with him since it's his first year. You remember Sam, I told you about him, right?" He gestured to the boy he had come in with who was now waving a wand through the air at Sean Ollivander's instructions.

Daisy did vaguely remember a Sam back when she had talked with Jonathan about staying in touch with friends, but somehow, she hadn't comprehended that this "Sam" person would have anything further to do with her life. But there he was, looking as if nothing in his life had changed when Daisy's had just reached a turning point.

According to Lily, friendships made the first year at Hogwarts were always the strongest, but if that was true, why did Daisy have a feeling that Sam Edgecombe wasn't going anywhere?


	3. Chapter 3

**The Train **

"Were there really this many first years in our year?" Sophia complained as they passed compartment after compartment that was occupied by a young and nervous-looking eleven-year-old.

Daisy shrugged. "I don't know. It does seem kind of silly, though. So many of them get in on their own as if they think no one's going to have to share with them. There's only so much space on the train."

The two girls finally found a compartment to sit in when they reached Gracie and Lily.

"We saved you some seats," Lily said. "We'll probably get a few more people here too." She moved her things so that one more seat was open.

"Maybe we could join you?" Jonathan shoved a foot in the compartment door just as it was closing. "It's just me and Sam."

Lily nodded. "Of course. We've still got room."

Daisy shoved her luggage into storage and took a seat between Sophia and the compartment window. Connie, her barn owl, sat in his cage at her feet. The seating arrangement put Sam and Jonathan across from each other next to the compartment doors.

Daisy looked out the window. She couldn't see her family as the train pulled out of the station, but she knew they would be there until the train had disappeared completely. Her father would be standing next to Harry, most likely, because he still felt somewhat lost around wizards if one of the Potters wasn't nearby. Her mother would be next to him, and, if Poppy allowed her to, would have her arms around her younger daughter in a protective hug as younger children and their parents started to get in the queue that would allow them off of the platform.

Then they would wait however long it took - Poppy had told Daisy about law enforcement wizards that made sure not too many people left the platform at once through the brick wall - and then return home. Dudley would return to his office for work, and Anna would work on lesson plans while Poppy read a book.

Daisy knew more about what her family members would be doing in the next week than she knew about her own future.

"So, Sam," Lily began. "Sorry we didn't talk long in Diagon Alley. As a reminder, I'm Lily. Gracie," she pointed at others as she named them, "Sophia, Daisy."

"Thanks!" Sam said cheerfully. "I know it's a bit odd for a first-year to immediately start out by making friends with people in other years, but I was already really good friends with Jonathan because our mums have been best friends since they went to school here, so I thought I'd try fitting in here." He kept looking back and forth between everyone, eagerly checking for signs of approval. Daisy thought he looked quite a lot like an overeager puppy. When he, at last, looked towards her, she didn't give him the same polite smile the others had and he looked away, fingers twitching nervously.

Sophia looked at Daisy curiously, not missing her coldness towards Sam.

"What house do you think you'll be in?" she asked.

Sam's eyes lit up. "I hope I'll be in Ravenclaw. It sounds like the best place for me, and my whole family has been in Ravenclaw, mostly. Not that your houses wouldn't be nice, of course. Slytherin though - I think I'd keep the hat on until it gave me a new house if it tried to put me in Slytherin."

Lily frowned. "Slytherin Isn't so bad. It's just got a bad reputation from a few awful people."

"Yeah, but Slytherin -"

"My brother's in Slytherin."

"Oh."

Daisy looked across at Lily who rolled her eyes. She'd never seen her cousin get defensive of someone else's house before, but if it got her an ally against Sam being adopted into their group, then she was pleased with it.

And what if Sam was in Hufflepuff? Then she'd have to be all warm and welcoming around him all the time. She should be anyway. Hufflepuff's were supposed to be nice, and Sophia illustrated that point by continuing a conversation with Sam as if nothing had happened.

0o0oDaisyo0o0

By the time they reached Hogwarts, Daisy was emotionally exhausted. Sam was ten times more talkative than Jonathan, and even Sophia seemed to have trouble keeping up with him. He didn't have Jonathan's same analytical personality and seemed more like a typical Gryffindor than a Ravenclaw to Daisy. She dumped her muggle electronics in the bin assigned to her on the way off of the train and followed the rest of the older students towards the carriages that would take them up to the castle.

Sophia half skipped next to her as they neared an empty carriage. "These are so cool," she said. "When do you think we'll learn to enchant things like this?"

"You won't," Jonathan said.

Sophia took this as an attack on her personal ability. "Okay, I know I'm not that great at charms, but I'll work on it. Hard work, that's something my house is known for!"

"He meant that the carriages are pulled by thestrals. They're invisible, but it's not a spell pulling these carriages," Lily said.

When they reached the great hall, Daisy and Sophia left their group of friends to go sit towards the front of the Hufflepuff table and watch the first years walk in. Most of them entered the hall with wide eyes that jumped wildly between the starry sky shown above, the tables, and the hat. Besides Sam, Daisy only recognized Lucy Weasley among the group of new students.

But Edgecomb, Sam was sorted into Ravenclaw just as he had hoped and welcomed to the table by Jonathan.

"What do you think of him?" Daisy turned and whispered to Sophia.

"He's alright. He probably just says a lot of nonsense when he's nervous or something. Give him a few days, Daisy."

"Okay." She watched uneasily as Flint, Charles was sorted into Slytherin and did her best to ignore Sam's existence.

Lucy Weasley turned out to be a Hufflepuff and Daisy Cheered her on with the rest of her housemates and offered her a seat at the table next to her, but was all the while unfocused.

"Daisy?" Sophia tapped her fork on Daisy's empty plate once the food had arrived and Daisy hadn't responded.

"Mm?"

"Get some food."

"Okay."

This year at Hogwarts was supposed to be a good one. Even with Sam, she would make it a good one. She knew she could. But then, that was before she turned to look at the Slytherin table again.

Bella Castle caught Daisy's eye, smiled, and gave a little wave.

"Ugh." Daisy turned around again.

"What?"

"Bella's going to be particularly nasty this year, I can tell."


End file.
